Memphis Internal Arts: martial arts

The Chinese Martial Arts typically do not work with the short knife. In modern times it is most likely to be encountered in a self defense situation. Most likely a hand to hand confrontation in which everyone is unarmed and is standing in front of you is the least likely to happen. Yet most Traditional Martial Arts schools train almost exclusively for this type of encounter.

Some of you may know (my students) that I have been going through our curriculum in an effort to make it more applicable for modern life. Part of that process includes researching the types of movements that would be suitable for use against the knife, stick and clinch/takedown.

Part of this search lead me to meet some friends up in Michigan that host the Gathering of the Tribes every year. This gathering includes a lot of top silat and kali players among others. After last summer I invited Chuck and Don to come down to teach a Close Quarter Knife Combatitives class. He followed that up with a Cane class that was fantastic. It was similar to single stick work that I have done in the past but with some added benefits.

Here is Chuck's review of his trip down here:

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tennessee Trip
This past May, my good friend Chuck Sullivan dragged a couple of students (Jeff and Rob) with him to the 10yr anniversary of the Gathering of the Tribes. We had a good time during the weekend, and as usual, I wasn’t able to spend nearly enough time hanging out with them as I would have liked.

Chuck and I spoke later about the possibility of Don and I teaching a seminar for him in Tennessee. I was understandably reluctant…you all know how shy I am, and how much I hate sharing what we do…so I tentatively agreed to consider it. (Ok, stop rolling your eyes…geez!) The truth is, I was excited for the opportunity to visit with friends, and have a chance to share SYD with more people!

On the Thursday before we left, I decided to take it easy in class…Murphy being a relative and all. In spite of that, I managed to tweak my back a little, and so was fairly sore thru out the drive down.

Don and I left GR around 5:30am (Waaaaay too early) but we wanted to get there for dinner. (That way we’d have time to rest before having to earn our keep.) It was a beautiful day for a drive, and we switched off piloting duties on a fairly regular basis so neither of us would get too car-lagged. Starting in Michigan, it was a tad chilly in the morning, so I’d dressed for Michigan fall. Just about exactly 12 hours later, we were arriving in Tennessee to some beautifully warm, decidedly not Michigan, weather. I believe it was in the 80-90s the entire weekend…and actually reached 101F one day. I loved it!!

Chuck works at a Chinese Medicine practice, and later that evening after a very filling dinner, he offered to work on my sore back. I’d never had acupuncture before, but am definitely now a proponent of it. Thanks to Chuck’s work, I didn’t have any soreness to my back thru out the rest of the weekend that wasn’t associated with just good “worked muscle” soreness. Thank you Chuck!

In talking with Chuck about the next day’s activities, I discovered that Rob is a black belt at the school in Somerville where the seminar was to be held. It’s located a short distance away from where we stayed in Bartlett, with Chuck.

Saturday morning we woke up to a tasty breakfast prepared for us by Chuck…and left for the 40 minute drive from Bartlett to Somerville. We arrived a little after 8am to meet the Senior Instructor, Jack Dawson and some of his black belts. Rob’s instructor, Jack, opened his school to us, and even suspended the “no shoes” rule for the weekend.

Jack is a true Southern Gentleman. He’s an incredibly gracious host, quick to smile, very respectful, and genuinely interested in what you have to say. He’s also an extremely skilled martial artist and Teacher. I liked him immediately! “O.D.” Harris was the other Senior Instructor in the school, and is very quiet, and unassuming…if you don’t know him. You would never know that he works in Corrections if you didn’t ask him. When you see him move…or more accurately, teleport…any questions you might have about whether or not he can take care of himself vanish. Their black belts are equally respectful and open minded…and most definitely honor their Instructors by their conduct.

Saturday’s Seminar was largely about sharing the training methods we use in San Yun Do. One of the great things is that these methods are non-art specific. The focus of our seminar had to do with what we believe being a good training partner entailed. How do we ensure that the person we’re working with builds good muscle memory and a positive “Root/Foundation Level” reaction? If they’re flinching away, blinking, or if their overall structure/form is breaking down are we training this person properly? As a Coach (the person who’s feeding the attack), how do we learn what to watch for and provide feedback to help correct it? As the Trainee, how do I communicate with the Coach? This was the main topic of the seminar and we used ‘Empty Hand vs Blade’ as a context to train from. We had the participants switching rolls and training partners often thru out the seminar.

Twenty six showed up to play, many of whom hadn’t been in a martial arts school before. We started working from the ground up using the concepts of Structure, Mobility, and Directionality as a framework to build from. Everyone there put in such an amazing effort.

As the day progressed, we worked thru our 3 Phases of training (Structured, Intentional, and Contextual) which culminate in practicing situational scenarios. (That is to say, you get to apply the skills you’ve learned in the context in which they might have to be used.) These particular scenarios involved the attacker having a blade. Everyone was having so much fun we forgot to look at the clock. By the time we left for the day, it was two hours longer than we’d planned.

Looking back, I’d have to guess that our intention training drill, “The Increasing 5”, and the Scenarios were probably the favorites of the seminar. I was very happy with how everyone did. According to Jack, they were very proud of their bruises and had fun telling their friends about how they got them.

Saturday evening saw Don and I back at Chuck’s for an excellent dinner. According to Chuck’s wife, Angie, he hasn’t cooked this much in years. Fortunately, he proved to be as excellent a cook as he is a host. We ate well! After chatting with the family for a couple hours, we were off to bed.

Sunday, we got to sleep in a bit, as the Cane Workshop wasn’t scheduled to start till noon-ish. We arrived just after 11:30am to get situated and warmed up a little.

Just 6 people attended this session. All were experienced martial artists and teachers. (Anymore people and the room would have been very interesting to try to navigate safely) We began with talking about the cane as a tool (reach, impact, etc), and about how the training concepts we were going to be going thru were the same as we used the previous day. It helped that they were all in attendance on Saturday.

We went thru the 3 basic positions of the cane, Point Down, Point High, Point Middle, and why we used them. (The various “attitudes” of each position…)

Next we went thru the structure, mobility and directionality concepts as it pertains to the cane. (Noticing a similarity here?) ?

As the day progressed, we plugged the cane into the 3 Phases of Training we used the previous day…working thru to the point where Don and I introduced them to the Cane Game.

Our Cane Game is a free flow exercise designed to help build the attributes practiced earlier in the seminar, but in a more chaotic environment…the idea’s of position, mobility, and directionality are all mixed in and applied in a very dynamic environment. We used padded canes for safety, and also had fencing masks, sparring helmets, etc…to add to the safety. A padded cane might not break a bone, but it still smarts when you get hit…and they can still take out an eye.

The whole group loved this play…not only does it really drive home the necessity for good footwork and controlling your momentum, but it also is great cardio! Everyone was sweating by the time we wrapped this portion up.

The last portion of the seminar was devoted to putting the Cane into a more probable context. You’re not likely to go cane-v-cane on the street…and it wouldn’t be a ‘duel’ either. For this, we used Cane versus blade. One person (Coach) had a training blade. His/Her job was to touch the Defender (Trainee). The Trainee had to hit the attacker in areas that would diminish the attack and allow a safe retreat. The Coach wore protective gear, and the Trainee used a padded cane for safety.

This really seemed to drive home the idea that the cane’s greatest advantage was the distance it could reach…its outer range.

We wrapped up around 4pm(ish) and said our good-byes to our new found friends. Don, Chuck, and I then headed back to the Sullivan Ranch in Bartlett.

Again we benefited from Chuck and Angie’s culinary wizardry for dinner…and then the whole family curled up to watch “Over the Hedge”. After the kid’s went to bed, we kept Chuck and Angie up until around midnight just talking and hangin’ out. (Or did they keep us up? Hmmmmm….)

Don and I hit the road early the next morning, homeward bound. It always seems like the trip home is longer than the trip there. The weekend was a whirlwind of delight, and we were both still riding its wave, I believe. As much as we enjoyed our time there, we were both anxious to get home to our families.

San Yun Do has gone thru a few iterations, with regards to its curriculum, over the last 10 years. Some of them have been fairly drastic, especially early on. As time progressed, the changes were more subtle and refined. In preparing for this trip to Tennessee, I believe we turned yet another corner with the way we teach and present information. We are always striving to improve ourselves, to be better teachers/servants for our students. It’s our students, as well as sharing what we do at places like Somerville, that make it all worth the effort. Thank you for this opportunity to share a part of us with you.

Until the next time our paths cross,

Chuck Pippin, Innovative Martial Arts